Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Mother's Day is celebrated here too. The restaurants are crowded with families out for lunch or dinner. We mothers generally get the day off from cooking. Scott made a terrific breakfast to get the day started.
My youngest son Sean sent a beautiful email and then I spoke to he, James and Josh's family over Skype. We left a message with Zoe but weren't able to talk to her.
Our good friends Bob and Barbara flew back to Bonaire after two weeks celebrating Barbara's mothers 90th birthday on Saturday and we joined them for a brunch on Sunday at Roomer's Resort and Restaurant. It was an all you can eat buffet of local specialties and fantastic.
My favorite was a casserole of baccala, dried salt cod, with veggies and potatoes and a custard like base to hold it together. Other favorites were corn fritters, goat stew and macaroni & cheese. There was a local senior band with a south american beat. Bob and Barbara got a round of applause for a solo number.
We really miss seeing our children and grandchildren. Happily two neighbors came over to visit and reminded us how much fun kids can be. Brawny and Adam sailed from Sydney, Australia on their comparitively small boat with Jack (6) and Amy (4). We met at the Happy Hour and invited them over. I set up a painting table with watercolors and colored pencils. They are both really great creative and Jack left us fun picture to hang up!

Thursday, May 07, 2009

Luckily for me there are a lot of them around. We saw the small notice quite by chance, that the fishing village of Sami north of Willemstad was having a celebration on Labor Day, May 1.
There were no other details so we just hopped in our rental car and navigated our way up there. On the outskirts of the town traffic came to a halt and costumed families walked down towards the water, so we just parked the car on the verge of the road and joined them.

The costumes were really beautiful and clearly all hand made. There was a lot of applicaye work with pictures of the harvest and the small colorful houses of the past. The costumes are modled on those actually worn a century ago. Several of the groups performed traditional dances during the parade.
The men were really wonderful - very much into the moment. Can you imagine those handsome men at the top left marching in those costumes in the U.S.? Well, maybe in Key West...
We had a brief shower mid way but very few even bothered to use umbrellas or get under cover. These children however caught my eye!
Later we walked along the small harbor. It was packed with local stands selling food and drinks
Two men provided music under a tent. One turned the handle of a huge "hurdy gurdy" machine while the other did the percussion.

About us

In 2003 Scott Garren and Heather Shay, after 32 years of life together ashore raising four wonderful children and pursuing lively careers, took off to sail, see the world and meet its people. They are still loving it!